The present invention relates to a lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin.
With a vehicle, it is important that a passenger who will get in the vehicle in the dark or at night can quickly ensure his security in connection with the presence of an object on a seat, etc., and smoothly settle in a cabin of the vehicle.
On the other hand, it is known that human eyes are easy to fix to a spot which is sufficiently lighter than its circumference. This is an ocular guide effect (see, for example, "Report of Fundamental Research on How Guide Lamp is Seen" published in 1984 by Lighting Society in Japan). It is also known that one obtains a sense of center when carrying out a space perception with a lighter spot as a center (see, for example, "Adjustment of Luminance in Living Room" by Sotaro MATSUDA published in 1966 at a meeting of Union of Kansai Branches of Electric and Related Societies). These effects are commonly applied to interior and exterior lightings.
With a conventionally proposed lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin, however, when any door is opened, lamps such as a ceiling light, etc. turn on therewith to uniformly illuminate the entirety of the cabin, producing shadows by a structure, etc. in the cabin, resulting in impossibility to obtain optimal illumination range and illuminance. Additionally, the aforementioned ocular guide effect and sense of center which are favorable for the passenger when getting in are out of consideration.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a lighting system for use in a vehicle cabin which guides a passenger to a seat in providing a space perception with the seat as a center.